


Therapy

by SociallyAwkwardFox (Maze_Runner_Fae)



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Hugging, Hurt/Comfort, Therapy, s1e17-Disordered
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-08
Updated: 2015-12-08
Packaged: 2018-05-05 17:17:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5383931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maze_Runner_Fae/pseuds/SociallyAwkwardFox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dinah thinks Wally is in denial about the emotions he experienced during the failsafe training simulation and what he really needs right now is a hug. Inspired by the song Therapy by All Time Low</p>
            </blockquote>





	Therapy

**Author's Note:**

> Give me therapy.  
> I'm a walking travesty,  
> but I'm smiling at everything.  
> ~Therapy by All Time Low

“Wally.”

“Dinah.”

Black Canary let out a sigh and closed the open notebook she had in her lap. “You know I’ve told you not to call me that. I am your superior.”

“That doesn’t mean I forgot your name.”

“Wally… Let’s focus on why we’re here.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’ve got homework I need to do.”

“This is serious, Wally. What happened in that training exercise would have traumatized a member of the League. I only want to help. I’m here for you to talk to.”

“I’m good.” Wally threw another handful of popcorn into his mouth and munched on it loudly. “Maybe if it were real it would have been “traumatizing,” but it wasn’t. Nobody is dead, the world isn’t ending, nothing to worry about. No big deal.”

“You saw League members die. Your Uncle. You saw your own team die.”

“But they aren’t dead. No reason to get all emotional. Everyone is alive and kicking.”

“What about when Artemis died?”

Wally shift around in his seat uncomfortably and placed the bowl of popcorn in his lap so he could cross his arms over his chest. “What about it?”

“You seemed to take her death pretty hard.”

“The whole team took it hard. That’s the reason we got sucked too far into it right? Megan took her death hard and made us all forget it’s not real, but it wasn’t real. Artemis is alive. Everyone is.”

“Just because it isn’t real now, doesn’t mean it wasn’t real then. Why don’t you tell me about how you felt in the moment?”

“I’d rather talk about you, babe.”

“The way you’re behaving makes me think you’re in denial.”

“I can live with that.”

Dinah let out a low groan and rubbed at her temples in frustration before taking a calming breath in. “I know it might appear easier now to stay in denial, but in the long run it will end up doing you more harm than good. You need to feel comfortable confronting your own feelings.”

“How about I go meditate? Get in touch with my inner self or whatever.”

“Or you could start by answering my question. This isn’t something you have to do alone. In fact, it’s sometimes better to talk through your feelings with someone else. It helps you release them and possibly gives you a fresh perspective.”

“None of this will leave this room?”

“You have my word. No one outside this room will know what you say in here unless you are the one to tell them.”

“Fine. What was the question again?”

“How did Artemis dying make you feel?”

“Helpless.” Dinah leaned forward in an encouraging way to make Wally feel comfortable enough to keep talking to her. “I couldn’t do anything to save her. I wanted to save her.”

“We can’t-”

“Always save everyone. I know. Uncle Barry has given me the speech before.”

“Her death wasn’t your fault.”

“I know that. Doesn’t mean I didn’t feel like there was something I could have done in the moment.”

“Have you talked to Artemis about it?”

Wally snorted and rolled his eyes so hard Dinah was sure his eyes were going to roll right out of his head. “Artemis and I don’t really get along. We do more fighting than talking.”

“I think it would be helpful to both of you if you talked.”

“I’m sure there’s someone better she could talk to, like Kaldur.”

“You need to talk about your feelings.”

“I have talked about my feelings. I told you all about my many complex feelings.”

“Seriously, Wally. You were doing so well. I also know you know-”

“That I’m not telling the truth?” Wally gave Dinah a smug smile that had her rolling her eyes fondly at his all too familiar antics. “Have you considered that I’m not entirely comfortable talking to Artemis about this?”

“Why wouldn’t you be comfortable talking to her?”

“We don’t get along.”

“I’ve never seen that stop you from talking to someone before. How about I tell you why I think you want to avoid talking to her?”

“Go ahead. You know I love hearing you talk.”

Black Canary groaned and had to fight back the urge to smack the young teen upside the head just like she used to when he was younger. “I think you don’t want to talk to her because you value her opinion and don’t want her thinking any less of you. You don’t have anything to worry about. She won’t see your concern as weakness.”

“That’s just ridiculous, Dinah! I don’t care what Artemis thinks.”

“Don’t use my name, Wally. If you continue to stay in denial about your feelings, we’re going to keep going in circles. You need to accept your feelings for Artemis if you want to make any progress. Letting this linger under the surface for too long could cause problems later between you and Artemis.”

“Wasn’t this session supposed to be focusing on my traumatic experience? When did this turn into relationship therapy!”

“Everyone needs something different after a traumatic experience. There isn’t one set way to deal with trauma. What I think you need is comfort. Not from your parents or your uncle or your best friend, but from Artemis. Her loss hit you hard. You need reassurance that she’s still there and won’t be going away.”

Wally scoffed loudly and threw his hands up in the air. “I thought we went over this earlier! I don’t need any reassurance. I know that Artemis is alive. I know the rest of the team is alive. I know all of the League is alive. No need for reassurance.”

“Sometimes people need more than visual confirmation to be sure something is real. What’s the first thing you did when you got home that night?”

“Hugged my parents.”

“You needed physical confirmation that your parents were, in fact, alive.”

“You’re not seriously suggesting what I think you’re suggesting.” When all Dinah did was nod her head, Wally spluttered indignantly. “What? So I should just walk up to Artemis and demand a hug? That would go over well. She’d have absolutely no problem with that.”

“Did you ever think that Artemis may need the same thing and is too proud to ask for it?”

“There’s no way. She wouldn’t want…”

“You can’t possibly know what she really wants until you talk to her.”

“That’s a terrible-”

“Talk to her.”

Wally sighed and looked down at his feet so he wouldn’t have to look Dinah directly in the eye. “I know you just want what’s best for me. That doesn’t mean I won’t blame you when this goes terribly wrong.”

“It won’t.”

“Cocky, Dinah. That’s normally more of Ollie’s thing.”

“Get out.”

“Alright, alright. I’m going. Sheesh.”

* * *

 

Wally stepped cautiously into the main area of the Cave where the others were spread out around the room looking miserable. Megan had her face tucked into Conner’s neck, while he stared off into space with a vacant expression. Dick had his legs pulled up on the cushion he was sitting on and his arms were wrapped around them so he looked absolutely tiny. Kaldur was leaning against a wall looking down at his feet so no one could see his face, but from the way he was slightly hunched in on himself it was obvious he was as distressed as the others. Sitting off by herself was Artemis, practically hugging the arm of the couch she was sitting on even though she was the only one on it.

“Robin, you’re up.” Dick slipped off his seat with his usual grace and disappeared down the hallway Wally had just come out of.

Wally debated taking the spot Dick had been sitting in, but he knew Dinah would kill him during their next training session if he didn’t stick to his words. He stiffened his shoulders and neck in preparation for the punch Artemis was going to throw his way. The couch cushion sunk under his weight and made Artemis’s feet slide down from where they had been curled up under her. She sent him a glare that didn’t have any of its normal scathing heat behind it.

The room went back to being as silent as it had been before Wally had walked in apart from the occasional sniffle from Megan. It didn’t take long for Wally to start vibrating in his seat because of all the pent up energy he had from sitting around most of the day. He didn’t need to look over at Artemis to know she was already back to glaring daggers at his poor, innocent head. Without overthinking what he was about to do too much, Wally grabbed one of Artemis’s hands and pulled her out of her seat. Before she could say anything, Wally was tugging her towards the kitchen so none of the others would overhear their conversation.

“What are you doing, Baywatch?”

“Something I’m almost a hundred percent sure is about to get me killed.”

Artemis raised her eyebrow and placed her hands on her hips. “Then it sounds to me like you shouldn’t do whatever it is. For once in your life.”

“Black Canary would kill me if I didn’t.”

“Now I’m not really sure where you’re going with this.”

“She, uh, thinks that we should talk.”

“Why?”

“I might have had a bit of an…” Wally scratched nervously at the top of his head and tried to look everywhere expect directly into the grey eyes in front of him. “Overreaction after your death. It may have included some yelling and hitting things and acting reckless. You might say I was emotionally compromised.”

“Because I died?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why would my dying effect you like that? You don’t even like me. We don’t get along.”

Wally laughed half-heartedly and looked down at where his shoes were scuffing a black mark into the kitchen floor. “That’s what I keep telling myself.”

“Well, what did you want to talk about?”

“I don’t know. I guess I just… Why did you it? You could have made it back to the bioship, but instead you had to go and be-”

“A hero? That’s what we all signed up for when we joined this team.”

“I know, I know. I’ve been doing this for years. I know the risks.”

“Wally!”

“What?”

Artemis placed her hands on both sides of Wally’s face and gently ran her thumbs under his eyelids to wipe away the tears that had been slipping down. A surprised sound ripped from Wally’s throat and he brought his own hand up to wipe away some of the spare tears. His eye flicked up to the ones in front of him prepared for a look of mockery or disgust, but what he saw was completely different. It appeared to Wally that Artemis was barely managing to hold back tears of her own so he did the only thing he could think of that might be comforting.

His arms encompassed her waist and pulled her body flush against his in a crushing hug that had the air rushing out of her lungs. She moved her hands from Wally’s face to his hair which she tugged gently until his face was cradled against her shoulder. Artemis buried her face into Wally’s bright red hair so no one would be able to see her crying if they decided to walk into the kitchen. The hands around her waist clutched tighter at her hips like Wally was scared if he didn’t hold on firmly she would just disappear. Her hands rubbed down his back trying to soothe him in the only way she knew how.

Slowly, the grip on her hips loosened to the point Wally’s hands were just resting on the now bruised area. The hands on his back came to a stop, but didn’t move away immediately like he had been expecting them to. A part of Wally didn’t want to move away from the comforting body he was wrapped around, but he knew Artemis wouldn’t want to be stuck with a leech for the rest of the day.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Artemis let her fingers absentmindedly play with the hair at the base of Wally’s neck. “Before I joined the team, I didn’t have any friends. My father wasn’t really much of a father and my mother wasn’t around until recently. My sister left when I was younger. I haven’t really had people there for me over the years.”

“You know you don’t have to prove yourself to us, right? You’re just as much a part of this team as anyone else. You’ve saved all of our lives. We trust you.”

“Thanks, Wally.” Artemis pulled Wally into a tight hug that ended much too quickly for either of their liking. “We should get back to the others before they think we’ve finally killed each other.”

“I doubt they think that’s going to happen anymore.”

“You never know. People always say it’s a fine line.”

“What’s a fine line?”

“The one between love and hate.” Artemis smirked as she pulled her lips away from where they had been next to Wally’s ear. “I’m exhausted. I think I’ll go take a nap.”

“You’re going to be the death of me.”

“Lucky you.”


End file.
